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Mark Hamill and Guardians director James Gunn finally party together

Will Luke Skywalker come over to the Marvel side, or is this just two California neighbors chowing down on cobbler?

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

It was a galactic get-together for the ages. 

Over the holiday weekend, Mark Hamill, who plays Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series, finally met up with his Malibu, California, neighbor, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. But this was no simple Memorial Day barbecue: it was a fan-driven meetup that sent ripples through the social media galaxy, and could possibly affect the third Guardians movie.

Hamill offered more details on his Twitter account. Apparently the gathering, at Hamill's home, celebrated the first birthday of Ant-Man actor David Dastmalchian's daughter. Among other things, it featured homemade cobbler made by Hamill's daughter, Chelsea.

Hamill said the two discussed everything from growing up Catholic to blue cheese and risque limericks. (Sadly, he doesn't share any, but "There once was an actor named Hamill" and "There once was a director named Gunn" both offer plenty of tempting rhymes.)

Gunn chimed in on some other topics they chatted about, including actor Lee Marvin, Gunn's veterinarian, the political-conspiracy theory QAnon, Adult Swim's Rick & Morty and model Twiggy. Blue cheese comes up again, only Gunn spells it differently than Hamill.

The first steps on the path to this gathering happened way back in February, when Twitter user Ian Fee suggested Gunn should find a role for Hamill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Both Hamill and Gunn were willing, and fans loved the idea.

No one is yet saying if Gunn and Hamill discussed a part for the actor in Guardians 3 while chowing down on cobbler and spouting dirty limericks. (Some Twitter users are rooting for him to play the villain.) Still, the fan who thought of the gathering was thrilled.

One thing's for sure, if the way he treated Rey in The Last Jedi is any indication, the actor behind Luke Skywalker would knows how to keep Guardians whippersnapper Star-Lord in line. Get off his space lawn, Peter Quill!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is scheduled to hit theaters in 2020, so there's plenty of time to figure out a way to cast Hamill. Instead of blue milk, just have craft services order up some blue cheese, and he'll be right over.

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